EN: This article reviews the causes of the disappearance of movie theatres in South Saharan Africa, a phenomenon peculiar to this vast geographical area thirteen times larger than France. Following the lack of initiative of the French duopoly COMACICO-SECMA, which over a half-century came to take over the importation and distribution of practically all the films shown in the region, the operation of most movie theatres and the programming of other cinemas in the region, the disappearance of the entire film sector in the 1980s was ensured in the various countries by ideological blindness and the short-term defence of the business interests of African filmmakers for two decades following independence. Unfamiliarity with international film distribution markets; the lack of training for distributors and exhibitors; the fragmentation of markets, which fell back on national territories; and the rejection of a ticketing system controlled by the state, in addition to piracy and corruption: the minimum requirements for state regulation of the market are still lacking, preventing even today the reconstruction of movie theatres and that of the entire film sector.

EN: Research into the history of cinema in India, and in particular into early cinema, demonstrates a cruel lack of sources, archives and film preservation. How, then, is one to document a history so little discussed, that of movie theatres, in an area so large? This article, which is not at all exhaustive, seeks to identify, diachronically, the major issues around film distribution and exhibition in India. From cinema’s beginnings until the present day, an underlying issue remains: conquering rural areas and their audiences. To this contrast between urban and rural areas there is added, in cities, that of the distinction between different categories of movie theatre. These analyses, varying in form, nevertheless demonstrate permanent structural problems, from a shortage of movie theatres to strong regional disparities. The growth of multiplexes and their small-scale avatars, the miniplex and valueplex, appears to be opening up new possibilities in rural markets.

EN: This article examines the growth of movie theatres and independent screening venues in the capital of China since the 1990s, their place in the city, the increase in the size of the audience and the evolution of cultural practices, in addition to the various cultural policies which have been established, such as encouraging the opening of movie theatres and the repression of independent circuits. The author underscores the speed with which the number of cinemas has grown in this immense country’s large cities, an unprecedented phenomenon in the world, through the study of the main exhibition circuits in Beijing.

EN: Since 2003, a record-setting year over a thirty-year period, North American movie theatres have been steadily losing audiences, particularly young viewers. In the face of this situation the film exhibition sector has reacted in various ways. In classical fashion, exhibitors have once again bet on the spectacular: IMAX theatres are the most striking example of this, but not the only one (Cinemark XD, MAGI and HFR for projection, and Dolby Atmos and Auro 11.1 for sound). At the same time, emphasis has been placed on improving comfort, both at the high end (VIP cinemas) and for the general public (reclining seats, reserved seats, more sophisticated food and drink). This article also examines the sector’s economic model, particularly its media chronology. Finally, some circuits, including the four largest, dissatisfied with the films on offer today, have joined with producers to broaden the range of films. The race to provide spectacle, the contribution of new services and a broader choice of films: all this has as its goal to give North American viewers a renewed desire to get out of the house and go out to the cinema in greater numbers.

Abstract EN: Beginning and ending with the question “what is a cinema?” and with a reconsideration of the notion of cinema’s second birth, this article examines the economic and socio-cultural dynamics of film exhibition and film-going in small-town and rural Western Europe, in particular in the Netherlands, Germany and France. Emphasis is placed on the history of itinerant film exhibition in multifunctional venues in the period after the era of the fairground shows—an important aspect of European film culture which has long been overlooked by cinema historians. Insights from these particular experiences of the cinema can help us to reconceptualize the place of cinema in both rural and urban contexts. A crucial aspect of film-going in multifunctional venues is the fact that it was located in spaces that were used for a wide range of commercial and community activities. The author thus advocates a new cinema historiography that breaks away from the fixation on the medium’s singularity to include its relation with the surrounding socio-cultural contexts in which cinema happened.

EN: This article studies the evolution of movie theatres in the city of Düsseldorf from 1920 to 1989, particularly in the post-war period. Between 1945 and 1959, the number of cinemas grew constantly; the first closure came in 1960, beginning a decline. In 1969, a new strategy appeared: dividing cinemas into several screening rooms. This became a dominant practice throughout the 1970s, although it did not spread in a linear or homogeneous manner. The authors trace the complexity of the process, taking into account such things as earlier periods of growth, from 1920 to 1945, and the effects of social change on film exhibition. The article demonstrates how film exhibitors adapted as they transitioned from the formula “one building = one cinema” to that of the “cinema centre.”

EN: The 1980s in France were decisive in the history of movie theatres. This article explores the way in which a cinephile magazine, Cahiers du cinéma, positioned itself and discussed some of the issues around the drop in attendance and the place taken by television during the period, which was a turning point for the magazine as well. In fact, after its political period in the 1970s, Cahiers was trying to find itself and was looking for readers. Its discourse on movie theatres appeared gradually, as a projection of the magazine’s own inquiry into its own identity. Drawing on examples in the Paris of the day and taking as its model the programming of the Cinémathèque française, the magazine developed a discourse in keeping with its transformation to a new editorial line, one which tried to reconnect with its cinephile readership, to incorporate technological innovations and to bring films past and present into dialogue.

EN: This article examines the role of Rome in Eugène Green’s film La Sapienza (2014) through an analysis of the metaphysical and semiological presuppositions of its cinematic poetry. The author explains how Rome, as a “hidden city,” casts light on the act of filming and what the comparison between filmmakers and architects can tell us about the definition of the author of a work. To do so, the application of the expression “real presence” to the city is examined from the perspective of a neo-Platonic aesthetic to show that the paradoxical sameness of the reference to the polysemous place name “Rome” creates poetic communication. It relates to an experience of hospitality and returning home, seen in light of Montaigne’s diary of his journey to Italy in 1580 and 1581 by way of Germany and Switzerland. Urban and filmic spaces are then compared to demonstrate the role of emptiness in the composition of the latter. Emptiness is thus seen as receptiveness to light and as patience. The article concludes with a discussion of the analogies between architects and filmmakers and of the aesthetic theory of the author underlying them.

EN: Drawing on the personal archives of Georges Sadoul, this article examines his reasons for joining the Fédération française des ciné-clubs in 1945 and for leaving it in 1952. Going against the grain of historical narratives, which see ciné-clubs as the agents of cinema’s aesthetic recognition or status as heritage, the author sees them as contributing to a broader cultural movement, launched in the inter-war period by Léon Moussinac, for widespread cultural democratization and decentralization. This is a social understanding of an art form which gives nuance to the usual discourses around post-war cinephile activities. In addition, the article offers a new definition of popular education itself.